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Heart of the Machine

“A fascinating, and sometimes disturbing” examination of our relationship with artificial intelligence in the tradition of Ray Kurzweil and Michio Kaku (Martin Ford, New York Times–bestselling author of Rise of the Robots).

Imagine a robotic stuffed animal that can respond to a child’s emotional state, a commercial that can change based on a customer’s facial expression, or even a company that can create feelings as though a person were experiencing them naturally. Heart of the Machine explores the next giant step in the relationship between humans and technology: computers that can recognize, respond to, and even replicate emotions.

Futurist Richard Yonck argues that emotions—the first, most basic, and most natural form of communication—are how we will soon work with and use computers. And that instilling emotions into computers is the next leap in our centuries-old obsession with creating machines that replicate humans.

But with every step forward, there are pitfalls. Technology that can manipulate our feelings could open. Doors to unprecedented levels of mass control. And there is still our deep-seated anxiety about what might happen if machines could actually feel—only to break free from our control.

A fascinating exploration of the evolving relationship between mankind and technology, Heart of the Machine is “a compelling and thorough history of the interaction between our emotional lives and our technology” (Ray Kurzweil).